Banner-tailed kangaroo rats (Dipodomys spectabilis)
are prominent ecosystem engineers that build large mounds that
influence the spatial structuring of fungi, plants, and some
ground-dwelling animals. Ants are diverse and functionally important
components of arid ecosystems; some species are also ecosystem
engineers. We investigated the effects of patch disturbances
created by D. spectabilis mounds on ant assemblages in
a Chihuahuan Desert grassland in southern New Mexico by using
pitfall traps in a paired design (mound vs. matrix). Although
the disturbances did not alter species richness or harbor unique
ant communities relative to the matrix, they did alter species
composition; the abundances of 6 of 26 species were affected.
The disturbances might also act to disrupt spatial patterning
of ants caused by other environmental gradients. In contrast
to previous investigations of larger-scale disturbances, we detected
no effects of the disturbances on ants at the functional-group
level. Whether ant communities respond to disturbance at a functional-group
or within-functional-group level may depend on the size and intensity
of the disturbance. Useful functional-group schemes also may
be scale-dependent, however, or species may respond idiosyncratically.
Interactions between disturbance-generating mammals and ants
may produce a nested spatial structure of patches.